Circular-knitting machine.



F. B. WILDMAN.

CIRCULAR KNITTING MACHINE. APPLICATION FILED JUNE 18, 1912. 1 167 866,Patented Jan. 11, 1916.

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APPLICATION FILED JUNE I8. 1912. 1,167,866. Patented Jan. 11, 1916.

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F. WILDMAN. CIRCULAR-KNITTING MACHINE.

APPLICATION FILED JUNE 18, 1912. 1,167,866. Patented Jan. 11, 1916.

4 SHEETSSHEET 3.

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CiRCULAR KNITTING MACHINE.

APPLICATION FILED JUNE 18, 1912.

1,167,866, Patented Jan. 11, 1916.

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FRANK B. WILDMAN, or NORRIST'OWN, PENNSYLVANIA, ASSIGNO 'ro WILDMAN MFG.00., or NORBISTOWN, PENNSYLVANIA, A CORPORATION OF PENNSYLVANIA.

CIRCULAR-KNITTING MACHINE.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Application filed June 18, 1912. Serial No. 704,440.

. T all w/z am it may concern:

.chine.

Be it known that I, FRANK B. WILDMAN, citizen of the United States,residing at Norrlstown, Pennsylvania, have invented certain new anduseful Improvements in Circular-Knitting 'Machines, of which thefollowing is-a specification.

The invention relates to tubular fabrics adapted for neckties and thelike, and to the method of and machine for forming said fabric.

In the drawings Figure 1 is a View of a complete tie; Figs. 2, 3 and 4are enlarged views of portions of the fabric; Fig. 5 is a diagram of thefabric; and Fig. 6is a diagram relating to the needles and cams of themachine; Fig. 7 is a plan View of a knitting head embodying myinvention; Fig. 8 is a side view of the knitting head; Fig. 9 is a.diagram in the nature of a side elevation of the machine showing thecams in position for knitting plain rib fabric; Fig. 10 is a Viewsimilar to Fig. 9 of the cams at one feed in a different position fromthat shown inFig. 9; Fig. 11 is a view similar to Fig. 9 with the camsin another position; Fig. 12 is a detail view of a grooved cam whichmight be used. Fig. 13 is a plan View of the machine with stripers inposition.

The fabric is produced on and the method involved is carried out by acircular ma- This machine includes an automatic striper or a pluralityof stripers, the number not being limited, and rib knitting mechanism inwhich the needles of either set-are divided into two groups, as shown inFig. 6, this being representative of any desired grouping. This figure,by way of example, shows the needles of the two groups as alternatingwith each other, though other groupings may be employed, as groups ofneedles may alternate with other groups or with single needles, and thisgrouping may be made in respect to either the cylinder or the dialneedles. In the form selected for illustrating my invention, thegrouping of the needles is carried out in connection with the cylinderneedles. Each group of needles is controllable independently of theother group by its own set of cams. I designate one group of needles ashown in double lines, these being referred to hereinafter as the whiteneedles, and the other group b hereinafter as the black needles.

shown in single black lines, and referred to The respective advancingcams of these needles are shown in the diagram, Fig. 6, at a,b', c, andd. l/Vith these two groups of needles those of one group may be knittingWhile those of, the other group may be tucking, these actions takingplace at the same feed. The machine also includes automaticallyoperating means for controlling the elements above mentioned, 5. e., thestriper or stripers, and the rib knitting mechanism, so that a portionof the fabric may be knit in solid color suitable, for instance, for theneckband of a tie in the plain rib stitch, and the other portion of thefabric may be knit in differently colored Vertical stripes or checks intuck stitch. The combination of these elements makes it possible toproduce a wide range of pleasing patterns.

With the arrangement of needles in two groups and with their camsadjusted as shown in full lines, the introduction of blackyarn at theeven feed and of white yarn at the odd feed will produce on the face ofthe tie alternate black and white vertical single tuck stripes one walein width, the black needles 5 knitting black at this feed, while thewhite needles tuck, and thus hide the black thread at this even feed,while at the odd feed the. black needles tuck and thus hide the whitethread, and the white needles knit white at this feed, thus producing,as just.

stated, alternate black and white vertical single tuck stripes one Walein width. The fabric produced as a result of thisis illus trated in Fig.2, wherein a" represents the stitches of the black striper, while I)represents the stitches of the white striper. Now, supposing the striperat the odd feed changes to black so that black thread is introduced atboth feeds, the face of the tie becomes solid black in the single tuckstitch, and I I the tie where the tucking is done is shown in Fig. 5,where one thread hides the other,

the black and white threads being indicated at a 5*.

In addition to the elements above described, I employ means forproducing a tuck stitch on the undivided set of needles, i. e., the setthe needles of which are not grouped as above described. This tuckingattachment does not necessarily cooperate with the divided set ofneedles to produce a new kind of stitch,-but is usedfor tucking in theotherwise plain rib fabric to produce an additional variety to thepattern, just as the color of the plain rib might be changed by thestriper without change in the action of the divided set of needles.

. It will be seen that one group of needles of the divided set is long,while the other group is short, the tucking, as in ordinary practice,depending upon whether the needle is moved out all the way or only partway to receive the thread. The drawings represent the fabrics facingout. I

The machine for carrying out my invention I have shown-as of the rotarycam type, though I do not limit myself to any particular type ofmachine. The advancing cams for the two groups of needles, long andshort, for one side of the machine, or rather for one feed, areindicated in Fig. 9 at a, c. There is a set of these cams for each feed,and the present machine used as an illustration of my invention being atwo-feed machine, the two sets of cams are arranged on opposite sides ofthe machine. The upper cams for short needles are attached to posts 1,Fig. 9, and the lower cams for the long needles are attached to posts 2,these posts being slidable vertically of the cam cylinder or box. Theposts 1 of the upper cams are attached by pins 3 to rods 4 slidablevertically in the cam box, said rods being pressed downwardly by springs5. The lower ends of these rods are beveled ofi tobe operated .by cams6. These cams are in the form of blocks having inclines thereon. Theposts of the lower advancing cams are connected at their lower ends bypins 7 with rods 8 guided in the cam box and also pressed downwardly bysprings, the lower ends of these rods being beveled on both sides to beengaged and operated by inclines on blocks 9 and 10. These cam blocks 6,9 and 10 are fixed to a ring 11 surrounding the cylinder cam box and foroperating the ring to make the cam bars act on the rods 4 and 8 or towithdraw them therefrom I employ arms 12, 13 on shafts journaled in thecam box, said shafts being geared together,"as at 14, so that as one armis swung inwardly in relation to the cam cylinder the other arm will bemoved outwardly, the said arms being operated by contact with a roller15 which is raised and lowered to lie in the plane of movement of firstone arm and then the other by pattern mechanism, as is customary inmachines of the Wildman type. One of the arms 12 has a'stud entering agroove of a block 16 fixed on the ring 11 so that as the arm swings itmoves the ring and thus ad justs the cam blocks.

Referring to Fig. 9, it will be seen that the ring 11 is insuchsposition that-the cam blocks 6, 9 and JOare holding both advancingcams a, 0 up. This is true also of all the feeds, that is to say wheretwo feeds are used as in the present example, the advancing cams at bothfeeds and for both the long and short needles are up so that plain ribknitting will be done.

Referring now to Fig. 10, ring 11 has been adjusted circumferentially,in respect to the cam cylinder, from the position shown in Fig. 9, sothat the post ,8 at this feed or this side of the machine will havemoved down the incline of cam. bar 10 under pressure of its spring, andthe lower advancing cam will have lowered. The upper advancing cam willstill be up at this feed so that here the upper cam or short needleswill be knitting while the longneedles will be tucking. 'On the otherside of the machine or at the other feed the upper cam will be loweredand the lower cam will be raised so that at this other feed the shortneedles will be tucking while the long needles are knitting. This resultis due to the manner of connecting up the sliding bars with the camposts, for instance,at the feed shown in Fig. 10 the first sliding rod 8in the direction of rotation (arrow 21:) of the cam cylinder is down andbeing connected with the lower cam 0 by the pin 7 and cam post 2 thiscam 0 is also down, but at the other feed the first rod of the pair isconnected with the upper cam post 1 (see at right of Fig. 7) so thatthis, rod being down, the upper cam. will be down also. The samerelation exists between the rods 4 on opposite sides of the machine,that on the side illustrated in Fig. 10 and at the left of Fig. 7 beingconnected to the upper cam through the pin 3 and post 1 and con-.sequently this cam being up, while that on the opposite side (at theright of Fig. 7) is connected to the lower cam which is therefore up. Asa result, the long needles will be tucking in F ig. 10 and alternate, orother groupings of short needles will be knitting, while on the otherside of the machine the long needles will be tucking while the shortneedles will be knitting. I l

Referring to Fig. 11, which represents the same feed as in Figs. 9 and10, the ring 11 has been further shifted circumferentially so that thecam bars cooperating with the springs will make the upperand lower camsassume the respective positions shown in dotted lines. The long needleswill be knitting here, their cam being raised, While the short needleswill be tucking, their cam being lowered. At the other feed on the otherside of the machine the relative position of the cam bars and verticallysliding rods I and 8 will be the same as in this view, but the firstslide rod (8) is connected with the upper cam, which consequently makesthe short needles knit,'whi1e the trailing or second slide rod 4 beingconnected with the vlower cam 0, causes the lowering of this cam 'andtucking here takes place on the long needles.

Instead of using bars 6, 9 and 10 as cams, I may employ cam pieces suchas illustrated in Fig. 12, these pieces being grooved so that the needlecams will be operated positively in both directions instead of by thesprings. The groove of these cams would receive pins projecting from therods 4 and 8 to operate them in an obvious manner. At 6 is shown a gatepiece carried by a stem. 7 pressed by a spring 9 and having a fingerpiece it at its outer end. By drawing upon this the gate piece is movedto leave an open-' ing in the cam-wall through which the long needlesmay be inserted into the lower cam groove.

I show two strip'ers A and B. These are substantially of the same formas those disclosed in Letters Patent of Hipwell, 815,167,

March 13, 1906, and more particularly. like those disclosed in LettersPatent of' the United States 1.106.763 patented to myself and George L.Ballard, Aug. 11, 1914.

Each of these stripers has two pairs of guide arms 18, 19, 18, 19', forthe yarns, one arm of each being downtdfeed its yarn and the other armof each being up to hold its yarn from being fed. These stripers areoperated from a claw 20 having projections 20', 20", .and a pin 20*, theprojections acting upon star wheels 21,.21', one-for each striperattachment. These star wheels are in different horizontal planes, andthe claw is raised and lowered to these planesto operate either star'wheel as required, the upward and downward movement of the claw beingcontrolled by pattern mechanism similar to' that disclosed in theapplication above referred to.

The claw 20 is' constructed to operate either star wheel twice initspassag'e, when raised into the plane thereof, for introducby raisingits lever when the star wheel strikes the other projection 20 of theclaw, the pin 20 being provided tooperate the shear and clamp for thecut thread by striking a lever 22 on the striper in a mannersubstantially similar to the operation of shear and clamp. described inthe application above referred to, for first shearing the thread, andthen clamping it until it is to be again introduced into the fabric. Theoperating connection between the star wheel and thread guide armsconsists of gearing and a cam shaft as disclosed in the applicationabove noted. The tuck on the dial needles may be obtained by adjustingthe wing or advancing cam of the dial as is well known in machines ofthe VVildman type, such for instance as in Letters Patent No. 790,772,May 25, 1905.

The claw 20 and pattern disk 15 may be operated by any suitable form ofpattern mechanism, but as an instance of such mechanism which may beused I would refer to that referred to in the application 659,262, abovementioned.

Pattern mechanism for lifting a controlling roller or disk, such as 15,is well known in the art, for instance as shown in Patent needles, anautomatic striper at each feed for changing the color 'of yarn, twoindependent cam races one for the long needles and the other for theshort needles, each cam race including a tucking cam at each feed ineach cam race, operating means-with connections therefrom tothe'tuckingcams,

the long needles tucking at one feed and knitting at the other, whilethe short needles knit at the first mentioned feed and tuck at the otherfor vertical striping or reversing the order of tucking and knitting formakingchecks, or both groups of needles knitting, substantially asdescribed. 2. In a circular rib knitting machine with an even number. offeeds and with two sets ofneedles 'i. e.. cylinder-and dial, one set ofneedles being divided into two groups, one

group having long needles and the other short needles, two independent"cam races,

one for the long needles and the other for the short'needles, each camrace including a tucking cam at each feed ineach cam race,

a ring movable circumferentially of the machine with connectionstherefrom to the of cams at each feed for the short and long needles,adjusting cams for the needle cams, a' palr of vertically movable rodsat each feed operated by the cam means, the first rod at one feed beingconnected with the upper needle cam while the first rod at the otherfeed is connected with the lower needle cam, while the second rods atthe two feeds are connected respectively to the lower and upper needlecams, substantially as de scribed.

4;. In combination in a circular knitting machine, long and shortneedles in one circle, a set of upper and a set of lower needle cams,eachset including needle advancing cams, one arranged over the other,adjustable for knitting or tucking, a cam ring carrying the said cams,rods movable vertically of the cam ring, one being connected to theadvancing cam of the upper set and the other being connected to theadvancing cam of the lower set, and cam, means operatingcircumferentially of the cam ring for operating the said rods andoperating connections for the said cam means, substantially asdescribed.

5. In a circular knitting machine, a circle of needles divided into twogroups long menses one for the long needles and one for the 1 shortneedles, two tucking cams at each feed, one in one race and the other inthe other race, and means for operating said tucking cams automaticallyinto tucking or knitting position in predetermined order and relation inrespect to each other, substantially as described.

6. In combination in a circular knitting machine having a circle ofneedles composed of two sets, one long needles and the other shortneedles, two yarn feeds, each being a yarn changer, a tucking cam foreach set of needles at each feed, a cam ring carrying said cams, and cammeans adjustable circumferentially of the machine and having threepositions one for simultaneously setting the tucking cams to knit on oneset of needles and tuck on the other at one feed,

and to tuck on the said one set'and knit.

on said other set at the other feed, said cam means when in anotherposition, reversing the relative knitting and tucking action justmentioned, and when in another position making both sets of needles knitat both feeds, substantially as described.

In testimony whereof, I afiix my signature in presence of two witnesses.FRANK B. WILDMAN. Witnesses: 1

E. R. ROBERTS, UWEN BALLARD.

